NYU leadership doubled down on its cautionary public response to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on higher education at the first University Senate meeting of the semester — a response criticized by dozens of students protesting the administration outside.  In an address to the 100-plus faculty, administrators and student representatives who comprise the senate, NYU President Linda Mills said the university was facing a “challenging and uncertain” political environment. Her chief of staff, Emma Wolfe, said the country has seen “incredibly rapid policy change” and referenced Trump’s 80-plus executive orders since taking office — many of which target research, diversity-related programs and topics relevant to higher education. She said that because…

Since he started campaigning for a second term, President Donald Trump’s promises to slash government spending have targeted universities. With calls to overhaul the Department of Education — including staunch support from Linda McMahon, the department head nominee — Congress most recently proposed a $2.7 billion budget cut to federal need-based financial aid.  However, calls to redistribute Pell Grants and loans — the main forms of federal financial assistance — were discussed long before Trump’s return. The Republican-backed College Cost Reduction Act seeks to address the United States’ $1.7 trillion in student debt by giving larger grants to fewer students. In an interview with WSN, George Spencer, assistant professor of…

Professors criticized NYU’s response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including his crackdowns on immigration and gender-affirming care, at an American Association of University Professors town hall on Tuesday.  At the meeting, eight executive members of NYU’s AAUP chapter discussed four areas of concern — cuts to research funding, attacks on gender-affirming care, repression of pro-Palestinian speech and immigration. The group also opened the floor to audience members to share first-hand how they have seen federal mandates impact the NYU community a month into Trump’s presidency.   NYU AAUP president and Tisch professor Anna McCarthy said that administrators should offer more clarity on what the university will do to address student…

Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has issued a foray of orders for universities to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. With “vague” calls to end “egregious and discriminatory” departments and a full-on aid freeze, the White House has sent colleges across the country into a frenzy of renaming departments, changing protocols and removing identity-based protections. NYU has not yet made clear changes to its policies or websites, unlike dozens of other major universities, including Columbia University and Northeastern University. In a statement to WSN, university spokesperson John Beckman said administrators will continue to “closely monitor new developments to federal policies that relate to our campus.” “NYU remains…

Around 20 students picketed outside NYU’s Finance Committee meeting run by the board of trustees on Tuesday, where they demanded that the university divest from companies with ties to Israel amid tenuous ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas following the war in Gaza.  The picket, organized by NYU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, took place outside the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World on 84th Street. Protesters approached the trustees — each accompanied by four to five Campus Safety officers — as they left the building, asking them to briefly meet with students to discuss the school’s investments. Hamza, an NYU Law student at the demonstration,…